A Slight Change of Face
by shmobeline
Summary: Several years after the events of Shippuuden, Naruto and Sakura decide to join the ANBU Black Ops. Sakura, however, needs to become a little more anonymous... NaruSaku, fluffy


Disclaimer: Obviously, I am not Misashi Kishimoto, nor any of the other people who can lay legitimate claim of ownership over Naruto. If I were, why would I be writing fic? Plus, I'm pretty sure Kishi doesn't ship NaruSaku...

Naruto knocked a few times before, being the impatient nin he knew he was, opened the door and stuck his head into the apartment.

"Sakura-chan?" he asked into the silence of the entry, drawing out the last syllable.

"In the kitchen!" came her reply. Naruto stepped through the door and pushed his shoes off. The tiles were cool on his feet; a welcome respite from the heat of the day. It had been rather warm in Konoha as of late, and today Naruto had even left his customary orange jacket at home. Not that he'd get to wear it very often any more anyway. Both he and Sakura would be trading in their regular ninja outfits for ANBU uniforms. They'd gotten their tattoos just the other day, and were set to attend their last training day with the rest of the new recruits tomorrow.

When he came through to the kitchen Sakura was leaning against the bench reading the back of a small cardboard box.

"'Morning, Sakura," he said, before swooping in a planting a chaste kiss on her cheek.

"Hey," she said absently.

Naruto raised his eyebrows at her blase response, but said nothing. He placed his elbows behind him on the bench and leant back next to his pink-haired girlfriend.

"How's the arm?" he asked.

"Hm?" Her eyes continued skimming the back of the box. She looked up at him abruptly. "Sorry, what?"

"Your arm. How's it feeling?" he repeated curtly, a little put out that she'd been showing a box more attention than she had him.

"Oh. Stings like a bitch," she said with a grin. Her smile was all it really took for Naruto to forgive her previous transgression. "I bet yours is fine," she continued on.

"Well... yeah. Show us a look?"

She put down the box in her hand and obliged him turning around to face the bench so he could inspect her right arm. She hissed softly when he touched the red and swollen skin near the tattoo, and he drew his hand away.

"Yup, that looks painful," he announced.

Sakura turned a dry look on him.

"Gee, thanks, Naruto. I don't know where I'd be without your caring hand to get me through the tough times."

Naruto smiled indulgently and wrapped an arm about her waist, drawing her close. She tried half-heartedly to push him away, but he leaned in and managed to touch his lips to hers despite her efforts.

"No, stop it, I'm trying to be annoyed with you!"

Naruto, who was nuzzling her neck by that point, mumbled, "Mm, that's too bad."

Sakura elicited a frustrated noise and turned in his arms, wrenched herself from his grip, and grabbed the box again to occupy herself.

"Aw, don't be like that," Naruto whined. Sometimes he surprised even himself. Twenty-two years of age, and he could still whine.

Sakura just turned her head primly.

"Come on, Sakura. What is that, anyway?"

"Nothing that concerns you," she told him.

That was when Naruto found out he could still pout, as well. He reached for the box, and Sakura quickly whipped it behind her back, a broad grin lighting up her features. Naruto chuckled, and tried to reach around behind her, but she took off towards her lounge room. Naruto bolted after her, and soon had her pinned beneath him on the couch, his knees either side of her hips.

She had her arms stretched out past her ears, right hand still gripping the box. He gave her a triumphant grin as he leant forward and used one hand to hold both her wrists, and the other to grab the cardboard construction.

He sat up again, saying, "Now, let's see what we've got here." He looked the box over, and the grin fell from his face. "Hair dye." He got up off her, and she sat up. He collapsed on the couch next to her. "Why do you have hair dye?"

"Well-" she began before Naruto cut her off.

"Why would you want to change your hair colour? And to this plain brown colour? I love your hair!"

"No, it's-"

"It's not because of what's-her-name at ANBU training, is it? I know she's been giving you hell about it, but she's just jealous because you're the best kunoichi there."

"Naruto-"

"I don't want you to change it! It's nice like this." He ran his fingers through her hair and tugged gently on a lock.

"I don't want to change it either, silly," she said when he finally let her get a word in edgewise.

"You don't?"

"No," she said with a laugh. "But I have to. ANBU are supposed to be anonymous, and anyone who knows even a little bit about me would recognise that it was me instantly. Tanaka-taichou told me I'd have to dye it when we were first approached about joining the Ops, and I've put it off because I didn't want to. But he told me last training session that if I didn't have it dyed by tomorrow he'd have no choice but to kick me out."

"Oh," was all he said in reply.

"What, that's it? 'Oh'?"

"Well, I'm sure you'll look very nice with brown hair."

"Boy, Naruto, I can't tell you how convincing that sounds," she replied. "Doesn't matter. I have always wondered what I'd look like as a brunette."

"When were you gonna do it?"

"Now, I think." She took the box from Naruto's open hands and headed towards the bathroom.

Naruto sat on the couch by himself for a few minutes before deciding to go and witness the dyeing of Sakura's beautiful pink tresses. When he stepped inside the bathroom she'd emptied the box of its contents and was reading the instructions sheet with distinctly red and puffy looking eyes.

"Sakura, are you crying?" Naruto's brow furrowed, and in the mirror he saw a bemused look on his face.

"Of course not, don't be ridiculous, Naruto," Sakura replied as she furiously wiped at her eyes with her free hand.

Naruto smiled fondly at her and drew her into a hug. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was again pleased to note that he had grown almost a full head taller than her, and that the top of her head fit nicely beneath his chin.

"Oh, I don't want to do it!" Naruto just stroked her hair. "I hacked my hair off when I was twelve, you'd think I'd be able to dye it ten years later without all this drama! I can't believe I'm crying over it."

"Well, Sakura, I guess you just have to ask yourself which is more important; joining ANBU Black Ops and saving the lives of ninja and civilians everywhere... or your hair."

Sakura half-heartedly punched him in the side.

"Hey, just thought you could use some perspective. I don't really want you to dye it, either, but when it's that or giving up your position as an ANBU, well..."

He felt, rather than heard, Sakura sigh, and she pulled away.

"Thanks, Naruto." She reached up on the tip of her toes and kissed him soundly. "This is probably going to take a while. Do you wanna go and come back in a couple of hours when I'm all done?"

"Sure," he replied, releasing her from his embrace. "I'll just go grab some ramen with Shikamaru or something."

"You'd better take a good look before you go. This'll be the last time you see me with pink hair for a while."

Naruto smiled. "Yeah, it is. And I'm going to miss it. But you know what? You are not your hair. And in case you were doubting, I'd still love you whether you had green hair, or black hair, and I'll still love you when you have brown hair."

"Aw, well, thank you," she said, picking up her brush, "but my insecurities didn't stretch quite that far."

Naruto thought for a moment. "You know, I don't know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment," he told her as she pushed him out of the bathroom.

"I guess we'll never know. See you in a couple of hours," she replied, shooing him towards the front door with her hands.

He dipped in and gave her a quick peck on the mouth before saying, "Bye!" and disappearing around the corner.

By the time he got back from lunch and let himself into her apartment, she was sitting on the couch reading, her newly dyed brown hair hiding her expression. She looked up when she heard him walk across the room, and smiled. A little nervously, he thought.

"So? What do you think?"

"What do I think? Well..." He cleared his throat. "I think I'm maybe developing a little thing for brunettes."

Sakura just smiled.


End file.
